For the first time all season, the Red Sox looked as if they were the walking dead. The past 3 games against the Tampa Bay Rays lacked energy and pop and it became obvious that their exhaustive list of injuries is finally catching up to them. It was bound to happen eventually, but Sox management was hoping to reach the All-Star break before needing to make some roster and lineup moves. The sweep at the hands of the Rays really hurt the Sox in the AL East, dropping them from 2nd place to 2.5 games back of 2nd in 3rd place, just hoping to hang on until many of their starters come back after the All-Star break.
It is too early in the season to scoreboard-watch, but the Sox have been playing incredible baseball over the past month to month and a half and their call-ups have not only maintained a high level of play, but raised the bar, even pushing the Sox within .5 games of the division lead in mid-June. They had an incredible opportunity at the Trop to place some distance between them and the then 3rd place Rays, but they faced tough tasks facing Matt Garza, Jeff Niemann and potential AL All-Star starter David Price. Unfortunately, the Sox failed all three tests and now are struggling to remain in contention before getting some much needed rest.
Some of the credit has to go to the impressive Rays starting rotation and bullpen, but the Sox certainly didn’t help themselves with errors and miscues and numerous missed opportunities as they left 28 men on base in the 3-game series. The Sox have a scheduled day off on Thursday, which hopefully will provide a chance for the team to regroup and refocus going into the final series before the Mid-Summer Classic. Because of Thursday’s off-day, the Sox will likely have every pitcher available for the 3-game division set against the Toronto Blue Jays north of the border and will look to climb back into the AL East race.
After the All-Star game could potentially be a wonderful time for the Sox, with many players preparing to return from injury in the last few weeks of July of the beginning of August. Jacoby Ellsbury is travelling to Toronto to be re-evaluated after his time at the Performance Institute in Arizona went well. The Sox have some other key players on their way back, Victor Martinez, Dustin Pedroia, Clay Buchholz and Jeremy Hermida are all currently expected to be back with Boston within 2-4 weeks after the break. All of these players will provide a spark to the club and hopefully develop a playoff-contending nucleus of players.
It has been a tough 1st half of the year, but luckily it is coming to a close shortly. Let’s just hope the same injury trend doesn’t continue into the 2nd half, because the later in the season a player becomes injured, the harder it is to return…
Add us as a preferred source on Google